Are Cubs tough enough to topple Brewers two more times? ‘It’s them vs. us,’ one Cub says

The Cubs were so low on momentum by the time they left Milwaukee, trailing 0-2 in their best-of-five National League Division Series against the Brewers, it’s a wonder they made it all the way back down I-94.

That team was going to take the next three in a row from the big, bad Brew Crew, winners of the most games in the majors this season?

Not likely. Not even close.

It’s still unlikely, even after the Cubs’ 4-3 victory Wednesday in Game 3 at Wrigley Field. The Brewers still hold ace Freddy Peralta in their hand and could play him Thursday in Game 4 on full rest. They still could ambush the Cubs offensively at any time. They’re still the only team in this series that has scored more than four runs in a game this postseason. And, unlike the Cubs, they don’t seem hell-bent on stranding every runner who manages to get into scoring position after the first inning.

But there is a path for the Cubs, the same one 10 major-league teams successfully have traversed after falling behind 0-2 in best-of-five series. That’s 10 out of 90, not much of a success rate, but who’s counting?

It’s just a three-game winning streak we’re talking about. The Cubs had 15 winning streaks at least that long during the regular season, the most in the NL.

And now they’re on the move. Underrated factor: They’re still alive.

‘‘We’ve got more ball to play,’’ said center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, whose two-out, two-run single in the first was the biggest hit of the game.

The Cubs nearly drowned in Brewers momentum in the first. With two runners on and one out, William Contreras skied a pop-up above the grass in front of first base. Slight problem: First baseman Michael Busch lost it in the sun. Second baseman Nico Hoerner and catcher Carson Kelly made belated runs for it, but the most routine pop-up imaginable dropped and everybody was safe, loading the bases. After a collective groan and untold expletives muttered, the crowd got so quiet that it might as well have been any old weekday afternoon in May or July.

But Cubs starter Jameson Taillon limited the Brewers to a run, the Cubs came back by putting four on the board in the bottom of the frame, momentum was seized, doves cooed, angels sang. You get the picture.

The Cubs wasted chances to tack on in the third, the fifth, the seventh. It seems to be their thing. But Brad Keller came through with a 1⅓-inning save, the crowd sang, doves sang, angels cooed. Having another playoff game always beats the heck out of having run out of them.

‘‘It was a lot of fun,’’ Keller said. ‘‘I’m looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.’’

There likely were some at Wrigley whose minds at some point drifted to the 2016 World Series, which remains a prominent memory around here, if you can believe it. The last time a Cubs team needed three consecutive victories to come out on top in a playoff series and got them, that was it. In the first of those three games — Game 5 at Wrigley — Jon Lester was on the hill, Kris Bryant homered and the game-winning RBI went to folk-hero-in-the-making David Ross.

This Cubs team isn’t as good as that Cubs team, everyone knows. But maybe it’s as good as the 2017 Yankees? Those 91-victory Yankees came back after two losses in Cleveland to topple the 102-victory Indians (at the time) in the American League Division Series, the last successful comeback from 0-2 down in a best-of-five series.

The Yankees were shut out in Game 1 of that series. They blew an 8-3 lead and lost in 13 innings in Game 2. It was gutting or seemed so, especially because they were facing an opponent with a reputation for being extraordinarily tough-minded, much like the current Brewers.

Do the Cubs have the toughness it’ll take to stare down such a foe and live to tell about it?

‘‘Without a doubt,’’ said left-hander Matthew Boyd, who should get the start in Game 4. ‘‘Every team has its makeup of so many different parts. Our team, we’ve got our own identity and our own heartbeat. We fight till the end, and we’re resilient.”

Boyd didn’t make it out of the first inning in Game 1. Is he tough enough for this moment?

‘‘I’ll do my role,’’ he said.

The Cubs weren’t overly fired up in the winner’s clubhouse, but not losing sure lightened the mood.

‘‘The Brewers have very good players, and we’re just trying to beat them,’’ fiery reliever Daniel Palencia said. ‘‘But we are a tough team, too. It’s them vs. us.’’